The Devil’s Cage

Holler, mayor of Shatterstone Town.

He wasn’t of noble background and had no dukeship but his life in the military made his style of action strict and fierce. The mayor who settled things in a fair manner was loved by the citizens of Shatterstone.

However, right at the moment, the mayor’s body was being carried out from the secret room in Dwarf Wine and Rice Basin.

Being different from the bunch of Edis who just died not long ago, the mayor didn’t just die for quite some time, his body was meticulously looked after and was presented in a mummified state.

“H-How is this possible? I saw and greeted the mayor this morning!”

Old Peeker was looking on with disbelief at the body on the floor.

Kieran frowned as he fell deep into thought.

It wasn’t because of what Old Peeker said though. There was no doubt that the mayor Old Peeker saw this morning was a fake but what baffled Kieran was; since someone killed the original mayor and took his identity and position for quite some time without being discovered, it meant the murder was planned beforehand for quite awhile. Definitely not something done impulsively or without careful planning.

Given the circumstances, why would the killer keep the mayor’s body here?

The body was even looked after in a certain area, preventing it from rotting and maggots from eating the flesh.

From how Kieran viewed it, it was completely unnecessary, an extra move.

Kieran unconsciously squatted down and carefully inspected the body before him.

The body had no visible wounds and the bones were intact as well.

“Killed by poison?” Kieran wondered.

Kieran then discovered a tattoo behind the mayor’s neck: half a sun rising up from the horizon while engulfed in flames.

Kieran was not a stranger to the tattoo. When he received his simple memories during the start of the dungeon, it educated him of the tattoo’s origin: Burning Dawn!

Only the soldiers of Burning Dawn had tattoos like this.

“Holler comes from Burning Dawn?”

Kieran asked the soldiers beside him.

“Yes, Mayor Holler was a soldier in Burning Dawn 10 years ago. He retired because of some heavy wounds and then he came to Shatterstone to take up the position as mayor.

So was the late Sheriff Peters. Both of them are good friends, brothers in arms.”

Marco, the calm civilian soldier who drew his sword replied Kieran.

“I see.”

Kieran turned his attention to the other things in the secret room other than the bodies. Metalware, bronzeware and some tied cowhide; Kieran nodded as if he thought of something.

…

Volgen led a group of four and was approaching the mayor’s office.

The young captain gave the signal with a wave of the hand and one of the four soldiers went up to inspect the main door. He then turned around and signaled his team.

“Door. Not locked.”

Volgen understood the hand signal. He immediately led the other three forward and opened the door as lightly as possible.

The hinges were well oiled throughout the years, so it didn’t screech when it was pushed open.

Volgen sized up the dark room before him.

He wasn’t a stranger to darkness since he was originally a hunter himself. His eyes were able to adapt to darkness faster, thus he saw the mayor lying on the floor.

The mayor was facing down, blocking a clear view of his face but the physique and outfit pointed out that the body should be the mayor Volgen knew off.

The young captain immediately signaled his men to stay alert before slowly and carefully approaching the fallen mayor.

The closer Volgen went, the more his heart sank.

From the moment he stepped into the mayor’s office until now, he didn’t hear the mayor breathing, not even once.

When his palm finally touched the mayor’s calf, his heart sank to the abyss.

The stiff and cold body told the young captain that it was indeed a dead one.

“Damn it!” Volgen cursed in his heart.

The young captain was very respectful towards Holler. His swordsmanship and ability to read and write were taught by Mayor Holler and the deceased Sheriff Peters.

Two of the deceased were like teachers, perhaps even family to Volgen.

A year ago when Sheriff Peters died, Volgen reacted to it furiously and it almost drove him mad but with Holler’s persuasion, the young Volgen was still able to remain sane.

Now, Holler was dead and without the father figure holding back Volgen, he was soon consumed by his own rage but he didn’t forget about the body on the floor.

“I will avenge you!”

Volgen made a silent vow. He grabbed Holler’s body and was ready to carry the body out.

However, when Volgen’s hands touched the body, the door that the young captain came in from suddenly shut with a “bang”.

The four civilian soldiers that stayed on guard outside the office had their necks twisted a few rounds before snapping sounds emanated from their neck. A heavy grunt later, all four of them were dead.

The moment things went south, Volgen was holding to his sword tightly but it was useless.

A formless energy bound his body and lifted him up in mid-air.

Then… the body moved!

It moved in a way that defied human body structure. Its torso turned around and its waist was twisted 180 degrees and formed an eerie spiral.

However, compared to the morbid eyes, the twisted waist was not much of a scare.

What kind of eyes were those?!

Its eyeball was like a glass ball filled with cracks; it was not just morbid but the cracks were showing off red luster. Despite the dark environment, it was very clear.

“Volgen, Volgen, Volgen. Why you? Why would you appear here? I originally didn’t plan for you to die this early.” The body spoke in Holler’s voice.

“Who are you?” Volgen’s body was restrained but his voice wasn’t.

“Who am I? I am Holler, the mayor of Shatterstone Town! Don’t you remember, I taught you how to use a sword, how to write and read, how could you forget about all that?” The eerie body laughed.

“Mayor Holler that I knew wasn’t a freaking monster like you!” Volgen said furiously.

“Provoking your opponent and search for openings? Mmmm, this is what I thought you during our first lesson, but… it seems like you did not master it well.”

“I remember I told you that in order to perform this particular act, you must have sufficient understanding of your opponent. Do you think you understand me? Or you thought you understood me. BUT! Now, you can’t even imagine what I am! I have surpassed the mortal state and I will show you what I can do!” The eerie body mocked Volgen for being ignorant.

The body slowly raised its arms; the furniture in the room was slowly lifted up in mid-air following its movement.

“See? This power is something that you can’t even imagine, it’s…”

As it spoke in a frantic manner, its voice suddenly stopped.

A hand extended out from the shadow and grabbed its neck; flame then burst out from the palm.

A moment ago, it was still boasting to Volgen and a moment later it was wailing in agony.

It then swiftly turned to ash but things were far from over.

…

Outside Shatterstone Town, a buff man on top of his war horse was looking up to the moon.

He then took out a scroll from his pouch, ripped it in half and threw it up to the sky.

Fuuu!

A black wind was blown out from the scroll, forming a dark cloud over the moon.

The bright moon was instantly blocked out, causing the sky and land to fall into darkness.

After the series of actions, the muscular man lifted his arm up without hesitating and gave the order by swinging it down.

Promptly, hundreds of men appeared behind the buff man; each of them looked vicious and was filled with killing intent. They were wielding swords, knives, and bows.

With the muscular man leading the group, they quickly rode towards Shatterstone Town.

No matter how wild and arrogant they were during normal times, all of them followed orders obediently because all of them knew they were running out of time.

Within a limited time, the group of men must charge into Shatterstone Town.

As Shatterstone Town was getting closer in sight, the group of men didn’t even need instructions to remind them to adjust their condition.

When the group of hundreds reached an ideal distance, all of them formed a tacit agreement and accelerated faster.

Groom Groom Groom Groom!

Hundreds of war horses were charging towards their target in the silent night; it sounded like the rumbling thunder running on the ground.

The civilian soldiers that were on guard duty at the town gate couldn’t even react to the situation before being knocked away and trampled by the hundreds of horse hooves, turning them into a pile of meat.

Meanwhile, the men were prepared for this for a long time; many of them lit up torches and started to throw them around.

Huuu!

Shatterstone town gate and the houses near it were engulfed in a sea of fire.

Creating chaos and slaughtering were these men’s forte; coincidentally, the robbers around Supreme Road were also good at all these.

That’s right, these men were robbers!

However, they were different from any common robbers because they were more organized and packed more firepower. Likewise, they were more ruthless than common robbers as well.

“Kill!”

“Kill every one of them!”

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

With many frantic laughs, the robbers swiftly broke through the town gate and were ready to expand their raid.

Wealth, women, none would escape them.

They had been waiting for a whole year for this one.

No one could stop them; no one would want to stop them.

However, as seconds passed by, the robbers realized something wasn’t right.

Quiet! Too quiet!

There was no familiar crying or shouting that they had experienced from their previous raids.

To a certain extent, there wasn’t even anyone around!

Other than the civilian soldiers at the town gate, they hadn’t met anyone.

Being one of the most notorious robbers around Supreme Road, other than being more ruthless than others, the robbers were also very vigilant.

Each and every one of them started to pull their horse to a stop; they were sizing up the town.

Especially the muscular leader, he retreated quite a distance and hid in the crowd but it was also useless.

They didn’t discover anything.

The quiet town was in absolute silence and they couldn’t even spot any living being in the shadows.

No!

If they really wanted to be particular about sounds, they did hear something.

The sound of fire burning fiercely!

It sounded like a fire was burning a wooden house and the beams were giving out sparkling sounds.

Then, a faint aroma of roasted meat filled the area. A few of the robbers sniffed it up.

“Roasting meat?” One of the robbers muttered to himself.

Then, he realized his comrades around him were looking at him with terrified expressions.

The robber unconsciously turned around for a look and he was instantly shocked.

The fire was burning his body without his knowledge and it swiftly engulfed him completely.

“Aaaaargh!”

The dying wail startled all the other robbers.

Then, the robbers turned around and looked at the burning town gate.

The fire at the gate seemed to have come alive; it kept absorbing fire from its surroundings and after a while, a dozen-meter tall fire giant appeared before the robbers.

Roar!

A loud roar later, a fireball as big as a millstone appeared on the fire giant’s palm.

The muscular leader didn’t know what happened. He didn’t know why such things would happen in Shatterstone Town which they should have been able to slaughter like lambs but he knew what he must do at the moment.

“Retreat!”

The order from the leader sent all the robbers fleeing in panic.

As for the promise made with someone? The leader couldn’t less at this moment.

Moreover, from how the leader viewed it, promises were meant to be broken.

Pak! Pak Pak!

The robbers whipped their horses hard, hoping that it would carry them away faster but the fire giant was getting closer.

Despair started to spread in the robbers’ heart. Especially when a millstone-sized fireball was hurled at them and exploded non-stop, the robbers and their horses were blasted to bits. The vicious robbers had completely lost it.

Bang, Bang Bang!

Their heads were like watermelons being run over by a truck, bursting one after another.

Even the buff leader was no exception. At most, he realized something more than his men before he died: this is an illusion!

Of course, it was.

It came from [Half-dead’s Gaze]’s skill, [Deadman Gaze] and [Fear Illusion]. It was as effective as it was lethal.

Actually, the robbers didn’t even break through the town gate nor did they hurl any torches at the civilian’s houses.

In fact, when they were a few dozen meters away from Shatterstone Town, their heads exploded.

Meanwhile outside Shatterstone Town, the young captain and his men were staring at the scene in shock. All of them were awestruck.

The guards and mercenaries of the merchant group that gathered further away were also horrified.

It was too unbelievable.

As people who lived around Supreme Road, they did see powerful people that could rival ten or a hundred men at once but as for this person who wiped out the entire robber group with a gaze?

It was a first.

Unconsciously, everyone started to place their attention at the figure outside Shatterstone Town’s gate.

The dark cloud that was blocking the moon slowly dispersed along with the night breeze.

The soft moonlight shed its light over the crow feathers and made it look lustrous. It made that figure look like he was born from moonlight.

Especially those calm eyes and expression, it looked extra elegant and leisurely under the moonlight, similar to the legendary nobleman under the moonlight.

“Son of Moon?”

A trembling voice sounded off.

The surprised voice instantly attracted discussion.

Everyone’s eyes at Kieran started to change.

Surprised, frantic, revered, feared, and so on.

However, Kieran didn’t care about the discussions of him and the gazes he received.

He lifted his hand and threw Holler’s dried body beside his feet while waiting patiently.

Ten seconds later, something unusual happened.